Phys.org news tagged with:family treehttp://phys.org/
en-usPhys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.Evolutionary trees reveal patterns of microbial diversificationWhile teaching a class on coarse-graining methods in physics, James O'Dwyer realized that the technique could be used to understand how microbes evolve over time. The results, published in PNAS, reveal microbial family trees with distinct evolutionary patterns that may one day help us understand how harmful microbes evolve.http://phys.org/news/2015-07-evolutionary-trees-reveal-patterns-microbial.html
Ecology Wed, 15 Jul 2015 21:06:09 EDTnews356213160Human hand more primitive than chimp's, study says Strong fists for defending ourselves and opposable thumbs for work as fine as threading a needle—hand specialisation is widely believed to have given humans a major evolutionary advantage.http://phys.org/news/2015-07-human-primitive-chimp.html
Evolution Tue, 14 Jul 2015 13:25:16 EDTnews356099106Species without boundaries—a new way to map our originsMore than 145 years ago, Charles Darwin argued that Africa was the continent from which humans evolved in prehistory. We now know he was right.http://phys.org/news/2015-06-species-boundariesa.html
Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 15 Jun 2015 10:10:01 EDTnews353579501Ice age camel bones found in Yukon redraw species' lineageMiners in northwestern Canada have discovered ice age camel bones whose DNA is forcing scientists to redraw the family tree of the now-extinct species.http://phys.org/news/2015-06-ice-age-camel-bones-yukon.html
Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 10 Jun 2015 13:50:01 EDTnews353160798Oldest-known stone tools pre-date HomoScientists working in the desert badlands of northwestern Kenya have found stone tools dating back 3.3 million years, long before the advent of modern humans, and by far the oldest such artifacts yet discovered. The tools, whose makers may or may not have been some sort of human ancestor, push the known date of such tools back by 700,000 years; they also may challenge the notion that our own most direct ancestors were the first to bang two rocks together to create a new technology.http://phys.org/news/2015-05-oldest-known-stone-tools-pre-date-homo.html
Archaeology & Fossils Wed, 20 May 2015 13:00:09 EDTnews351324022Research details 40 million-year-old family tree of baleen whalesNew University of Otago research is providing the most comprehensive picture of the evolutionary history of baleen whales, which are not only the largest animals ever to live on earth, but also among the most unusual.http://phys.org/news/2015-04-million-year-old-family-tree-baleen-whales.html
Plants & Animals Wed, 15 Apr 2015 06:10:02 EDTnews348295877Why "brontosaurus" is no longer a dirty word for dinosaur huntersA team of palaeontologists is claiming to have "resurrected" Brontosaurus, the famous long-necked, pot-belled dinosaur. No, they haven't conducted some mad DNA cloning experiment. They have built a big new family tree of long-necked dinosaurs and argue that Brontosaurus is distinctive enough to be classified separately from its closest relatives.http://phys.org/news/2015-04-brontosaurus-longer-dirty-word-dinosaur.html
Archaeology & Fossils Tue, 07 Apr 2015 10:10:01 EDTnews347615680Ancient fossils reveal diversity in the body structure of human ancestorsRecently released research on human evolution has revealed that species of early human ancestors had significant differences in facial features. Now, a University of Missouri researcher and her international team of colleagues have found that these early human species also differed throughout other parts of their skeletons and had distinct body forms. The research team found 1.9 million-year-old pelvis and femur fossils of an early human ancestor in Kenya, revealing greater diversity in the human family tree than scientists previously thought.http://phys.org/news/2015-03-ancient-fossils-reveal-diversity-body.html
Archaeology & Fossils Mon, 09 Mar 2015 12:19:31 EDTnews345122341Research shows that sea urchins, sand dollars thrived with timeA new study about echinoids—marine animals like sea urchins and sand dollars—gives scientists a reason to rethink a classical pattern of evolution. Fossil-based studies have traditionally indicated that groups of organisms diversify fastest early in their evolutionary history, followed by a steady decline through time. But the new work on Echinoidea, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contradicts that expectation, showing that rates of evolution were actually lowest at the group's onset and increased over time through episodic bursts associated with changes in the animals' feeding strategies.http://phys.org/news/2015-02-sea-urchins-sand-dollars.html
Evolution Mon, 23 Feb 2015 15:00:08 EDTnews343918205221 new species described by the California Academy of Sciences in 2014In 2014, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added a whopping 221 new plant and animal species to our family tree, enriching our understanding of Earth's complex web of life and strengthening our ability to make informed conservation decisions. The new species include 110 ants, 16 beetles, three spiders, 28 fishes, 24 sea slugs, two marine worms, 9 barnacles, two octocorals, 25 plants, one waterbear, and one tiny mammal. More than a dozen Academy scientists—along with several dozen international collaborators—described the discoveries.http://phys.org/news/2014-12-species-california-academy-sciences.html
Plants & Animals Mon, 22 Dec 2014 09:53:48 EDTnews338464418New method helps map species' genetic heritageWhere did the songbird get its song? What branch of the bird family tree is closer to the flamingo - the heron or the sparrow?http://phys.org/news/2014-12-method-species-genetic-heritage.html
Biotechnology Thu, 11 Dec 2014 14:03:23 EDTnews337528915Genes tell story of birdsong and human speechHis office is filled with all sorts of bird books, but Duke neuroscientist Erich Jarvis didn't become an expert on the avian family tree because of any particular interest in our feathered friends. Rather, it was his fascination with how the human brain understands and reproduces speech that brought him to the birds.http://phys.org/news/2014-12-genes-story-birdsong-human-speech.html
Biotechnology Thu, 11 Dec 2014 14:00:07 EDTnews337527716International team maps 'big bang' of bird evolutionThe genomes of modern birds tell a story of how they emerged and evolved after the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and almost everything else 66 million years ago. That story is now coming to light, thanks to an ambitious international collaboration that has been underway for four years.http://phys.org/news/2014-12-international-team-big-bird-evolution.html
Biotechnology Thu, 11 Dec 2014 14:00:02 EDTnews337528265Bacteria's game of 'Telephone' foils microbiologists' eavesdroppingWhile human families are easily illustrated as a tree, bacterial families look more like a heap of branches. Scientists are trying to trace the connections between those branches in an effort to learn more about the bacteria that harm us, and those that do not.http://phys.org/news/2014-12-bacteria-game-foils-microbiologists-eavesdropping.html
Cell & Microbiology Tue, 09 Dec 2014 07:01:27 EDTnews337330805Dinosaur family tree gives fresh insight into rapid rise of birdsThe most comprehensive family tree of meat-eating dinosaurs ever created is enabling scientists to discover key details of how birds evolved from them.http://phys.org/news/2014-09-dinosaur-family-tree-fresh-insight.html
Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 25 Sep 2014 12:00:09 EDTnews330858191Fowl play: Neanderthals were first bird eaters (Update) Neanderthals may have caught, butchered and cooked wild pigeons long before modern humans became regular consumers of bird meat, a study revealed on Thursday.http://phys.org/news/2014-08-ancient-pigeon-bones-reveal-secrets.html
Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 07 Aug 2014 11:46:24 EDTnews326630769New algorithm identifies data subsets that will yield the most reliable predictionsMuch artificial-intelligence research addresses the problem of making predictions based on large data sets. An obvious example is the recommendation engines at retail sites like Amazon and Netflix.http://phys.org/news/2014-07-algorithm-subsets-yield-reliable.html
Computer Sciences Fri, 25 Jul 2014 09:40:03 EDTnews325497098'Game of Thrones' scenario seen in Neandertal ancestorsThe vicious fight for survival and power among disparate kingdoms and clans may have led some ancient people to evolve facial traits more quickly than others, a study said Thursday.http://phys.org/news/2014-06-game-thrones-scenario-neandertal-ancestors.html
Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 19 Jun 2014 18:19:44 EDTnews322420718Tree ant family tree reveals ant swimming evolutionLife in the forest canopy is precarious: lose your footing and you could rule yourself out of the evolutionary arms race. Yet this hazard has not deterred many tropical ants from making their homes amongst the branches. In response to the danger of taking a tumble, many have developed the ability to glide to safety, although not all are lucky enough to land safely on another tree.http://phys.org/news/2014-06-tree-ant-family-reveals-evolution.html
Plants & Animals Wed, 11 Jun 2014 18:00:02 EDTnews321722290A tiny, toothy catfish with bulldog snout defies classificationKryptoglanis shajii is a strange fish – and the closer scientists look, the stranger it gets. This small subterranean catfish sees the light of day and human observers only rarely, when it turns up in springs, wells and flooded rice paddies in the Western Ghats mountain region of Kerala, India. It was first described as a new species in 2011.http://phys.org/news/2014-05-tiny-toothy-catfish-bulldog-snout.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 13 May 2014 13:50:01 EDTnews319207150A plague in your family: The independent evolution of harmful organisms from one bacterial familyFor the first time, researchers have studied the Black Death bacterium's entire family tree to fully understand how some of the family members evolve to become harmful.http://phys.org/news/2014-04-plague-family-independent-evolution-bacterial.html
Cell & Microbiology Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:00:12 EDTnews317292863Method offers potential for understanding anti-bacterial resistanceBiologists could gain a deeper understanding about how species have evolved – and even find ways to address antibiotic resistance – using tools that were developed recently at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology.http://phys.org/news/2014-04-method-potential-anti-bacterial-resistance.html
Biotechnology Wed, 09 Apr 2014 09:10:02 EDTnews316250681Hummingbird evolution soared after they invaded South America 22 million years agoA newly constructed family tree of the hummingbirds, published today in the journal Current Biology, tells a story of a unique group of birds that originated in Europe, passed through Asia and North America, and ultimately found its Garden of Eden in South America 22 million years ago.http://phys.org/news/2014-04-hummingbird-evolution-soared-invaded-south.html
Plants & Animals Fri, 04 Apr 2014 10:30:01 EDTnews315823026Study of rodent family tree puts brakes on commonly held understanding of evolutionRodents can tell us a lot about the way species evolve after they move into new areas, according to a new and exceptionally broad study conducted in part by Florida State University biological science Professor Scott J. Steppan.http://phys.org/news/2013-12-rodent-family-tree-commonly-held.html
Evolution Thu, 12 Dec 2013 11:46:12 EDTnews306071077Machine learning branches outMuch artificial-intelligence research is concerned with finding statistical correlations between variables: What combinations of visible features indicate the presence of a particular object in a digital image? What speech sounds correspond with instances of what words? What medical, genetic, and environmental factors are correlated with what diseases?http://phys.org/news/2013-11-machine.html
Computer Sciences Thu, 14 Nov 2013 08:37:19 EDTnews3036406181.8M-year-old skull gives glimpse of our evolution, suggests early man was single speciesThe discovery of a 1.8-million-year-old skull of a human ancestor buried under a medieval Georgian village provides a vivid picture of early evolution and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than some believe, scientists say.http://phys.org/news/2013-10-18m-year-old-skull-glimpse-evolution.html
Archaeology & Fossils Thu, 17 Oct 2013 14:57:23 EDTnews301240629Selection drives functional evolution of large enzyme familiesResearchers at Umeå University, together with researchers at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, show in a new study how natural selection drives functional evolution of a large protein family in conifer trees. The study sheds light on the mechanisms and adaptive significance of gene family evolution.http://phys.org/news/2013-09-functional-evolution-large-enzyme-families.html
Biochemistry Wed, 11 Sep 2013 07:57:27 EDTnews298105036Biologists map the family tree of all known snake and lizard groups(Phys.org) —A George Washington University biologist and a team of researchers have created the first large-scale evolutionary family tree for every snake and lizard around the globe.http://phys.org/news/2013-05-biologists-family-tree-snake-lizard.html
Plants & Animals Wed, 08 May 2013 18:07:19 EDTnews287255197Scientists create biggest family tree of human cellsIn a paper published today by the prestigious journal, Nature Methods, biologists at the University of Luxembourg, Tampere University of Technology and the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, USA, have created the biggest family tree of human cell types.http://phys.org/news/2013-04-scientists-biggest-family-tree-human.html
Cell & Microbiology Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:00:15 EDTnews285765555New beautifully colored long-horned beetle from Yunnan, ChinaThe beetle family Cerambycidae, also known as long-horned beetles or longicorns, is characterized by emblematic extremely long antennae, which are usually longer than the total body length of the animal. The family is rather rich in diversity with more than 20 000 species known, distributed worldwide. Some representatives of these bizarre-shaped beetles, are also known as serious pests with their wood-feeding larvae causing extensive damage to living trees or untreated lumber. The beetles from this family are mainly associated with leaf litter habitats, where the specimens in this study were also collected.http://phys.org/news/2013-03-beautifully-long-horned-beetle-yunnan-china.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:48:39 EDTnews282476893